Thirteen (Otherworld 13)

First, he assured his people that no harm would come to Hope.

"Lucifer will not allow it," he said. "This is his oldest surviving child. His first grandchild. We have already seen how the lord demons will interfere to protect their offspring. If a lord demon will kill Thomas Nast for his granddaughter, Lucifer will move heaven and earth to protect his own. He may wear the guise of a demon, but he is an angel. Cast out from heaven, yet pure of soul. Merciful and good."

Really? Did Giles believe that? Did anyone here believe it? Yet I could see the first row of the audience on the screen and I could tell by their faces that they did. They wanted to, so they did.

"Remember who Lucifer is. The fallen angel. The angelic turned demonic. He was cast from heaven because he questioned. Because he does not see black and white, and for that reason, he has bowed out of this fight. He cannot be sure which side he belongs on, nor which side is right. He has been burned before, so he shies away from the fire."

I had to admit the guy was good.

"What we are doing today is not threatening Lucifer. That would be blasphemy. No, what we do is exactly what we have been trying to do for weeks. Invite him to a meeting. Give us the chance to show him why we are the right choice for all--mortal, demonic, celestial. He has not heeded our invitations, so we must take this regrettable measure. Once he has come, though, there will be no threats. No disrespect. We will explain our position and he will see our truth. Lucifer will join our cause."

A thunderous round of cheers and applause. It was bullshit, of course. No demon or angel would interpret this as anything but blackmail. Yet the lie was enough for them to sit quietly as Jaz took center stage and prepared for the summoning.

Lucas's voice came over my earpiece. "We're in the garage now. We managed to successfully reroute the external video to show images from an hour ago, covering our entrance. The two outside guards have been disabled. We're going to use glamour spells to allow Elena and Clayton to impersonate them and attempt to breach the next security point."

Less talk, more action, I wanted to say. But when Lucas is stressed, Lucas explains. So I kept my mouth shut until he finished, then whispered, "Sounds good."

I clicked on the feed into Jaz's earpiece. "Compound breached. Stall."

He said nothing, but I thought I heard a derisive snort. No one needed to tell him to stall. Rushing wouldn't help Hope and it wouldn't help him.

"Before I begin . . ." Jaz said. A rustle of impatience rolled through the audience. "What I am about to attempt is very dangerous, to myself, to Giles and to Ms. Adams. So I will need your complete attention and silence. Also, I know there are fellow necromancers in the room. I must warn you . . ."

Don't try this at home, kids, was the gist of his message. That and making it clear that what he was doing was not a standard necromantic ritual and therefore would not resemble any they were familiar with. In other words, covering his ass so he could pull off a bullshit fake rite and drag it out as long as possible.

I hate giving bad guys credits for ingenuity. Hate it more when I find myself mentally taking notes.

As Jaz droned on, Adam and I listened to Lucas's updates.

Elena and Clay had made it into the stairwell. They'd disabled the guards without raising the alarm. A twenty-man tactical team had now entered the garage. Elena and Clay were approaching the final security point, where they'd take out the last--

Another voice came in behind Lucas's, muffled, talking fast, urgency bordering on panic.

"What's going--?" I began.

Lucas cut off the comm link. I glanced at Adam.

"It's okay," he murmured. "A minor hiccup. He doesn't want us overhearing and panicking."

Great, but silence only made me panic all the more.

I glanced back at the video screen. Jaz was lighting candles on a table. Lighting them very slowly, reciting gobbledygook about dark and light forces and balance. Giles stepped forward and offered to help with the lighting, but Jaz waved him aside, saying he had to do the ritual alone.

"Lucas?" I whispered. "Anyone? What's going on?"

Sierra glanced back at me. "If you two keep whispering, I'm going to kick your asses out."

"Sorry," Adam said. "Just getting impatient."

"Severin? Sierra?" A voice crackled over a radio left on the table. "We have a breach."

"Shit!" I said, leaping to my feet and forgetting, for a second, to use my guy voice.

Sierra didn't notice. She scrambled up and grabbed the radio. "Sierra over. Repeat."

"They've breached the compound. It's a Cabal. Or all the Cabals. I don't know." The young man's voice rose as he spoke.

I slid up behind her, as if trying to hear better. Adam followed.